Printing Press Preference

The deception, with tact
Just what are you trying to say?
--The Fixx

Chris Rossini explains why politicians prefer the monetary printing press for extracting wealth from the populace. It is confiscation by stealth.

Direct taxation, on the other hand, is overt confiscation. People can readily see how much of their wealth is being taken. There is a limit to direct taxation beyond which politicians are reluctant to venture because the people will push back.

Wealth confiscation via inflation is much more difficult for people to discern in the near term. They cannot easily recognize how much of their wealth is being taken when the government prints dollars and spends them while they still have value. Only later do people figure out that the purchasing power of the dollars in their pockets has been eroded.

Inflation is the invisible tax. Using the monetary printing press to confiscate wealth could very well constitute the ultimate in political expedience

Easy Does It

Know it sounds funny 
But I just can't stand the pain
--Commodores

Fed chair Powell hints yesterday that Fed may be closer to ending rate hikes than previously expected and the Dow lifts 600 pts.

Is Powell kowtowing to President Trump's frequent claims that the Fed's tightening program has been hurting stock market performance--to the extent that the president now says that he is disappointed with his pick for Fed chair?

Maybe. What we can be sure of is that the Fed will cave at some point and reverse their policy. They will not just cease raising rates; they will begin easing them back toward the zero bound.

Yesterday's blast off amounts to positive feedback on the prospects of returning to easy.

Improving Immigration Policy

There I was at the immigration scene
Shining and feeling clean
--Crosby & Nash

Some interesting ideas here on how to improve immigration policy that are grounded in freedom of association and market exchange. They include:

1) Expedited entry to immigrants who agree to forfeit access to all publicly funded subsidies and amenities including public schools, public healthcare, and similar programs.

2) A sponsorship program where private individuals and organizations formally invite and vouch for immigrants that they sponsor. If these immigrants turn out to be criminals or users of public funds, then the sponsors would be held legally and financially liable.

3) Eliminate all immigration ceilings, but limit admission to those immigrants who are sponsored, who have agreed to forfeit access to public funding, or who can demonstrate financial independence.

Of course, a simpler policy would be to dismantle taxpayer-funded public programs to reduce incentive for immigrant free riders.

That said, the above ideas is thought provoking in that they provide for greater freedom among US citizens for engaging in trade and exchange with immigrants worldwide while limiting risk to taxpayers. Moreover, polices based on these ideas naturally limit immigration volume since sponsorships and bonding would be constrained by availability of private resources.

Why Don't People Care About Inflation?

It ain't no use
We're headed for disaster
Our minds said no
But our hearts were talking faster
--Donnie Iris

In response to an Ask Fleck post yesterday, Fleck admits to wondering about this question often: Why don't people seem to care about inflation? It is perplexing. Because it reduces the purchasing power of money in people's wallets, inflation amounts to theft. One would think that people would be outraged about their property being ripped off.

But it doesn't generally work that way for several reasons. One is that low-to-moderate inflation rates can be difficult to notice in daily transactions. Only over large periods of time where the cumulative effects can be seen, or until the inflation rate really picks up, do people begin to notice. This is why inflation is sometimes called the 'invisible tax.'

Another reason is that government measures generally under-report inflation, which makes people think that their purchasing power is not being lost at rates as high as they actually are. Moreover, we are told that a 'little' inflation is generally good. People tend to believe this and forget how the compounding effect of even a 'little' inflation can erode purchasing power and wealth over time.

Most people are also debtors. Debtors generally welcome inflation because it allows them to pay back loans with money that is less valuable than the funds that they originally borrowed. For instance,  borrowing $100 dollars that can initially buy, say, 50 cans of soup can be paid back with $100 (plus interest) that can buy only 30 cans of soup.

Unfortunately inflation rates must often begin to go vertical before people wake up to the dangers wrought by their permissiveness. By that time the toothpaste is out of the tube.

Invasion USA

Oh Rio, Rio
Hear them shout across the land
From mountains in the north
Down to the Rio Grande
--Duran Duran

Invasion: an incursion by a large number of people or things into a place or sphere of activity. Synonyms: influx, inundation, flood, rush, torrent, deluge.

or, alternatively,

Invasion: an unwelcome intrusion into another's domain. Synonyms: violation, infringement, interruption, intrusion, encroachment, disturbance, disruption, breach.

An invasion is certainly taking place at our southern border. Bear in mind, however, that while today's events provide blatant images, this invasion has been going on for some time.

Corrective Forces Building

But if I can't swim after 40 days
And my mind is crushed
By the crashing waves
Lift me up so high
That I cannot fall
Lift me up
--Jars of Clay

Whether Peter Schiff's prediction comes to pass remains to be seen, of course. But his premise is intuitive.

The U.S. is about to finish the financial crisis and Great Recession that began in 2008. The Fed merely succeeded in interrupting the market's cure for 10 years while allowing the underlying disease to get much worse. As a result, the relapse will be far more severe!

— Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) November 20, 2018

Market forces destined to relieve the distortions caused by years of intervention have been further restrained over the past decade. Further restraint has increased the potential energy of those corrective forces accumulating behind the dam.

When the dam ultimately does break, far more destruction will be wrought when that potential energy turns kinetic.

Judge Shopping

Jake Lo: What judge is going to believe that?
Agent Wesley: My judge
--Rapid Fire

After a US District judge in San Francisco issued a TRO to block a presidential proclamation that asylum requests would no longer be granted to those arriving the US illegally, President Trump criticized the decision of the Obama-appointed judge and added that he considered the rulings of the Ninth Circuit "a disgrace."

Subsequently, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Roberts issued a rebuke of Trump's comments. "We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, or Bush judges or Clinton judges, Roberts said. "What we have is a group of extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them."

He concluded, "The independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for."

Not only was openly commenting on a president's remarks an extraordinary measure for a chief justice, but Roberts is plainly wrong.

'Judge shopping' goes on all the time, with the Ninth Circuit being the frequent destination of leftist cases looking for friendly rulings--rulings that frequently get overturned in higher courts. Everyone knows it, including Trump, who responded to Roberts with a series of tweets:

Sorry Chief Justice John Roberts, but you do indeed have “Obama judges,” and they have a much different point of view than the people who are charged with the safety of our country. It would be great if the 9th Circuit was indeed an “independent judiciary,” but if it is why......

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 21, 2018

.....are so many opposing view (on Border and Safety) cases filed there, and why are a vast number of those cases overturned. Please study the numbers, they are shocking. We need protection and security - these rulings are making our country unsafe! Very dangerous and unwise!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 21, 2018

There are a lot of CRIMINALS in the Caravan. We will stop them. Catch and Detain! Judicial Activism, by people who know nothing about security and the safety of our citizens, is putting our country in great danger. Not good!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 21, 2018

“79% of these decisions have been overturned in the 9th Circuit.” @FoxNews A terrible, costly and dangerous disgrace. It has become a dumping ground for certain lawyers looking for easy wins and delays. Much talk over dividing up the 9th Circuit into 2 or 3 Circuits. Too big!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 21, 2018

Trump is right. We do not have an independent judiciary. Instead we have judges motivated by political interest--as John Roberts himself has demonstrated.

Maven Musings

Who do you need
Who do you love
When you come undone?
--Duran Duran

Interesting interview with the always insightful Stephanie Pomboy of MacroMavens. Responding to concerns that central banks around the world are reversing ultra easy money 'quantitative easing' policies and, as in the Fed's case, initiating 'quantitative tightening,' Pomboy observes these anxieties are nothing new.

Ever since Alan Greenspan began employing monetary policy with the objective of stimulating economies and markets, investors have grown accustomed to the 'Fed put' and get nervous when it appears that central banks are reversing policies that backstop investment risk.

Stock declines just getting started? https://t.co/wCDUm8bFZa @MorningsMaria @FoxBusiness

— Maria Bartiromo (@MariaBartiromo) November 21, 2018

She thinks that stimulus provided by fiscal policy in 2018 (e.g., the Trump tax cuts) served to offset the increasingly hawkish central bank policies worldwide. Once the calendar turns to 2019, however, much of the one-off benefits of the fiscal stimulus will subside. Consequently, attention will once again refocus on the negative influence of monetary policy.

Pomboy notes that the degree of leverage in the economy has effectively lowered the threshold of pain related to rising rates. We're only at 3% on the 10 yr and already people are crying 'uncle' and pleading for lower rates from central banks.

She thinks that the stock market decline is "just getting started." She thinks that sudden downward forward earnings estimates reflect uncertainty about where growth will come from once the fiscal stimulus effects diminish.

At the end Maria asks Steph where investors can hide in case things get rough. When the Maven says gold, note the ridicule.

position in gold

Grateful for Freedom

"Aye, fight and you may die. Run, and you'll live--at least for a while. And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willing to trade ALL the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take...OUR FREEDOM!"
--William Wallace (Braveheart)

At the end of his Thanksgiving Day screed, Judge Nap suggests that we should not be grateful for a government that mocks our freedom and steals our property. Instead, we should give thanks to God for giving us freedom and the power to reason.

Be most grateful that we are free creatures made in God's image and likeness--so free that we can reject government's assault on our liberty.

Bias Response Teams

Time can never mend
The careless whispers
Of a good friend
--Wham

Prof Williams shares results of a recent report from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) on 'bias response teams' operating on college campuses. Bias response teams are groups of students, faculty, and staff invited by school administrators to report on conduct or speech taking place on campus that might be considered offensive.

FIRE reports that over 200 bias response teams were operating on US college campuses in 2016. Nearly 3 million students enrolled at these schools are thus being subject to speech surveillance.

In a separate study, FIRE's annual speech code survey found that 92% of the 449 schools surveyed maintain policies that restrict or punish speech.

It's not just students who are being watched. These Orwellian systems ask students to report not only on their colleagues and neighbors, but also on professors for speech that can be construed as biased and oppressive.

Why burn books when you can simply burn the authors of ideas?

Elevator Shaft

Al Powell: What was that?
John McClane: Remember that plastic explosive I told you about? There you go. Is the building on fire?
Al Powell: No, but it's gonna need a paint job and a shitload of screen doors.
--Die Hard

Domestic equity markets getting the shaft, as in elevator shaft, out of the gate today. Down over 500 pts early, the Dow is now testing its late October lows.

The Nasdaq has already broken thru those lows.

This is in synch with the principle that bear markets in their earlier stages tag the racier markets harder than the stalwarts.

The stalwarts are starting to catch up though.

no positions

Kennedy's Coin

"You're looking at a living legend, Lilly. The only active agent who ever lost a president.”
--Frank Horrigan (In the Line of Fire)

This Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, will mark the 55th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas. Within hours of the president’s death, there was already discussion of depicting JFK on one of the larger U.S. coins in circulation. Jackie Kennedy preferred that her late husband appear on the half dollar, a denomination previously occupied by Benjamin Franklin.

 In less than a week, the project was authorized. Mint engravers Gilroy Roberts (obverse) and Frank Gasparro (reverse) collaborated to modify designs previously developed for the Mint’s Presidential series. By the time the congressional bill passed in late December to authorize striking of the Kennedy half dollar, work on the dies was already underway.

1964-D 50c PCGS MS66

Coins for circulation were first minted on January 30, 1964—barely two months after JFK’s death. Initial release to the public through the Treasury Department and large banks were quickly sold out. Although production increased throughout 1964, the coins were rarely seen in circulation as people hoarded great quantities for both their link to JFK and for their 90% silver content. Production of 1964 Kennedy halves continued into early 1965. Nearly 430 million pieces were struck at the Philly and Denver mints—more than the quantity struck for the entire sixteen years of the Franklin half. In 1965, the silver content of the Kennedy half was reduced from 90% to 40% on its way to its 0% silver content today. Per Gresham’s Law, that reduction virtually guaranteed that those hundreds of millions of 1964 Kennedy halves would disappear from circulation.  The sheer number of hoarded Kennedys keeps their premiums over spot silver low today, making 1964 Kennedy halves one of the best ways to put back silver bullion—while still contemplating the Camelot that was. position in silver

Virtual Saving Vehicle

So true
Funny how it seems
Always in time
But never in line for dreams
--Spandau Ballet

Ron Paul poses the following hypothetical. Suppose you were gifted $10,000 and were required to keep it for 10 years without touching it. If you had to choose between dollars, gold, bitcoin, and T-notes, which saving vehicle would you choose?

A wealthy person gifts you $10,000. You get to choose in which form you’ll accept the gift. But there’s a catch: You must keep the gift in the form that you choose for 10 years without touching it. In which form would you accept the gift?

— Ron Paul (@RonPaul) November 15, 2018

The most preferred choice among almost 95,000 survey respondents was bitcoin.

Sign of the times, I suppose, that the top preference was for a virtual saving vehicle. Also helps explain the muted action in gold despite rising inflation signs.

position in gold

Corporate Interest Burden

And when one little bump
Leads to shock 
Miss a beat
You run for cover
And there's heat
--The Fixx

Ponder this chart for a minute. Baa (midtier) corporate bond yields have been in secular decline while corporate interest expense has been in secular incline.

Ever more corporate bonds issued despite lower coupons. How exactly does this work? Hint: look at over central bank interest rates policies (e.g., ZIRP, NIRP) for clues.

Consider this, despite lower coupon payments per bond to bondholders, interest expense is way up. This can only be true if corporations sell (choose one): a) small quantities of bonds of low rates, b) large quantities of bonds at low rates.

For those who have argued that it is good for companies to issue debt when interest rates are low because interest expense will also be lower, how's that working?

Press Pass Revoked

Arjen Rudd: Diplomatic immunity!
Roger Murtaugh: It's just been revoked.
--Lethal Weapon 2

Pat Buchanan discusses the White House decision to pull the press pass of a CNN pundit and CNN's subsequent lawsuit against the president. The suit claims that First Amendment rights have been violated.

This is laughable. Read the amendment. There is no violation.

The president has chosen to revoke a privilege, not a right. The White House press corps is granted a privilege (i.e., personal access to the president) that is not available to other media. The president can set the rules of the game and take away privileges from those deemed not to follow those rules.

As Buchanan correctly observes, the First Amendment guarantees that media can say what they want about Donald Trump. It does not entitle anyone in the media to a front row seat at a White House press conference.

Nor does it force a president to respond to the media's questions.

Mind Numbing Debt

"He's going vertical. So am I."
--Maverick (Top Gun)

Hard not to just stare at this chart. Simply mind-numbing.

Thanks @GrantsPub imp chart of #debt @spomboy @MorningsMaria @FoxBusiness @dagenmcdowell pic.twitter.com/4kRTlZTq31

— Maria Bartiromo (@MariaBartiromo) November 12, 2018

The gift to our young and future generations that keeps on giving...

Tariff Wagon

Wasted
Sacrificed for the new nirvana
Night time
Send the sun away
--Icicle Works

These pages have frequently observed that tariffs are taxes. Consumers pay these taxes. Ron Paul shares how much the federal government has collected in tariff tax revenue over the past 20 years.

Tariffs are a tax paid by the American consumer.

You -- Your money -- goes into Uncle Sam's pocket.

The American standard of living *must* go down when taxes are increased. Taxes don't create wealth and raise the standard of living.

They're a drain! pic.twitter.com/sCcXRs3ryS

— Ron Paul (@RonPaul) November 13, 2018

Although tariff tax revenues have spiked under the Trump administration, they have been trending higher for the past 20 yrs.

Stated differently, the tariff wagon depart with this administration. It has been rolling for some time. Its speed is merely accelerating under Trump. Recessions have been the only time the brakes have been tapped.

Of course, tariff tax revenues alone don't tell the entire story. At current run rates the federal government will collect about $60 billion in tariff revenue annually. That is only a tiny fraction of the income tax revenue collected by the federal government.

However, what isn't captured is the trading economies that are lost because prices with overseas trading partners are too high. And loss of benefits of specialization as the domestic economy must diversify to become more self-sufficient. And the inflation that follows. And the economic slowdown that flows from that.

You get the picture. Revenue is really just a component of the tariff wagon.

Hesitation Station

On our first trip I tried so hard
To rearrange your mind
But after a while I realized
You were disarranging mine
--Rolling Stones

Yesterday's melt headlined by the 600 pt Dow drop means that major indexes have retraced about 50% of the rally off the lows from a couple weeks ago.

Some hesitation in this zone would be intuitive.

no positions

Forest Management

Some say she's alright, some say she'll never learn
Some rush into things, some stand and wait their turn
I've been here all along, standing here all this time
But you never noticed, just let the same tired flames burn
--Bruce Hornsby & the Range

Thirty five years ago I was completing my first six months in the working world following college graduation. I was a process engineer working for a large paper manufacturer in Wisconsin. The company had an excellent orientation for new management hires that included a road to our timberland operations. Me and another half dozen of that year's cohort jumped in a van and headed north to the woodlands as the fall leaves lit up the countryside.

Two lessons learned from our foresters on that trip stuck with me. One was that trees are like any other crop. They can be planted and harvested. The difference between growing trees and, say, corn is the time it takes for a crop to mature. Forest product companies and the consumers of their products are no more 'killing trees' than farmers and their consumers are killing corn.

The second lesson involved practices in good forest management. Remove dead and blighted trees. Thin out growth. Create space and buffers. Many of these practices were oriented toward containing damage caused by wildfires. Companies in the area had painfully learned this lesson thru experience. In fact, I regularly drove thru thousands of acres of unmanaged forestland south of town that had been decimated by wildfire 10-20 years earlier.

Today's 'environmentalists,' particularly the younger generation brainwashed by an equally ignorant older generation of grade school, high school, and college instructors, revolt at the notion of messing with the natural 'look' of a woodland.

As such, we are vulnerable to catastrophes like the current wildfires raging across California. That's the PCH at Malibu above.

The president is correct in calling such ignorance out.

Armistice of Destruction

"I fought the Germans in France. And I fought 'em in the trenches. And I pray to God no one ever has to see the things that I saw."
--Danny Walker's father (Pearl Harbor)

Today marks the 100th anniversary of armistice between the Allies and the Germans that ended the fighting in World War I. The war propaganda that still clouds historical memory paints WWI as an unavoidable conflict perpetrated by Imperial Germany.

Intelligent studies of the times suggest otherwise. The primary instigators were Britain and France. The British Empire, who controlled nearly one quarter of the world's surface, feared German commercial and naval competition. France sought revenge for its defeat in the Franco-Prussian War more than 40 years prior.

The Germans feared being crushed between two hostile powers--France and Russia. Germany began to sense that the longer they waited to respond to their border threats, the higher the military odds became stacked against them.

The ensuing bloodbath and its aftermath changed the course of history, ushering in dictators, economic depressions, and further wars that claimed multiples of the nearly 40 million lives lost in WWI.

In many ways the armistice struck one hundred years ago today merely signifies a momentary pause and redirection of a building wave of destruction.

Home Invasion

John Hatcher: The way I look at it, you come home, mind your own business, watch your own yard. And then, if trouble finds you, you go after it and bite its head off...before it does the same thing to you.
Max: Look, Hatch. You haven't been here in a long time. And I'm telling you, trouble is tapping us both on the shoulder right now, and you don't want to turn around.
John Hatcher: Well, I hope you're wrong.
--Marked for Death

Earlier this week the home of a Fox News host was vandalized by an 'Antifa' (quite paradoxically short for 'anti-fascist') mob. This is another crime committed by an increasingly militant left encouraged by increasingly inflammatory rhetoric voiced by progressive leaders.

Signs continue to point to a building wave of politically motivated violence. That violence, as demonstrated by this case, could literally wind up at your doorstep. Be ready to defend yourself, your family, and your property.

For those wondering what a 'legitimate' use for so-called 'assault rifles' might be, protecting against home invasions is one of them.

Straight Up, Straight Down

Christy Wills: There is no right or wrong. There is only opinion.
Brantley Foster: You know, in some states you can get arrested for saying that.
--Secret of My Success

Sheryl Attkison discusses why the production of fake news, which involves so called news professionals committing gaffes that would not be tolerated in journalism school, is widespread today. She focuses on three factors.

Excellent breakdown of how #FakeNews is made.@SharylAttkissonhttps://t.co/7m1L7VaKCB

— PragerU (@prageru) November 8, 2018

First, firewalls that used to strictly separate news from opinion in media organizations have become blurred. Previously forbidden practices such as editorializing in straight news reports and the inclusion of opinion as fact are not only tolerated, but encouraged.

Second, regardless of their like or dislike for a politician, journalists are obligated to treat all politicians the same. Unfortunately this obligation has been discarded in favor of a double standard. Coverage with kid gloves for friendlies; hostile coverage for enemies.

Third is what Attkison calls transactional journalism. Journalists have become willing to slant coverage in order to get something in return--like favorable access to a particular person or information worthy of a scoop. Doing so, of course, constitutes a violation of basic ethics.

Because they can no longer get their news straight up, many information consumers are pointing their thumbs straight down at mainstream media sources that have completely abdicated their responsibility for objectivity.

New Scapegoat in Town

Some break the rules
And let you cut the cost
The insecurity is the thing that won't get lost
--Howard Jones

Ron Paul suggests that, with Democrats taking control of the House following the midterm elections, there is a new scapegoat in town once the economy and markets roll over. Whereas Donald Trump has recently been stirring up angst against the Fed, the president may find it politically expedient to divert blame for rough waters ahead to the opposition party.

Is The Fed Relieved?

Trump Can Now Blame House Democrats For The Coming Financial Storm pic.twitter.com/r83rVKUwZv

— Ron Paul (@RonPaul) November 7, 2018

Perhaps the Fed is breathing a sigh of relief.

Washing Thru

You don't really need to find out what's going on
You don't really want to know just how far it's gone
--Don Henley

On top of last week's evidence of price increases up and down the supply chain, wages are also on the rise. Signs of inflation continue to grow.

As Fleck noted on Monday:

"So it appears that folks are finally starting to become sensitized to rising prices, and once that happens it ought to be clear that prices have really been rising more than folks have realized for some time. Eventually it will be obvious to everyone that printing money leads to higher costs for goods and services after the money washes through the financial markets."

After the money washes through the financial markets. Great choice of words. It has taken a while for the trillion$ printed by central banks to be 'laundered' thru financial markets.

It is finally making it's way out of the laundry to a wallet (and price tag) near you.

Voting is not Consent

"Am I angry about taxation without representation? Well, yes I am. Should the American colonies government themselves independently? I believe they can, and they should. But if you are asking me, am I willing to go to war with England? Well, then, my answer is most definitely 'no.'"
--Benjamin Martin (The Patriot) 

Some argue that anyone who votes, regardless of the election outcome, consents to the system of governance that spawned the vote. By taking part in a election, the voter tacitly agrees to abide by the decision of a majority.

Of course, others argue that if a person doesn't vote then he/she doesn't have grounds for complaint because that person did not participate in the vote.

Imagine similar logic, i.e., 'yes' means consent, 'no' means consent, argued by criminals in courts of law.

One legitimate argument for voting is using elections as a means for peacefully keeping or removing aggression from the system. For example, voting against a tax levy keeps government aggression at bay.

The alternative is to acquiesce to the tax and become a slave. Or to fight back with defensive force.

Cup and Handle-ish Yields

I had another look
And I had a cup of tea
And a butter pie
--Paul McCartney & Wings

Ten yr yields looking increasingly cup and handle-ish.

Bullish for yields but bearish for just about everything else...

no positions

Next RCA?

And now we meet in an abandoned studie
We hear the playback and it seems so long ago
--The Buggles

The poster child for the stock market run-up in the 1920s was Radio Corporation of America (RCA). RCA, or 'Radio,' was the must-have stock for speculation class. RCA stock price increased more than 20 fold during the hey days of the Roaring Twenties.

In September 1929 the stock fell from 114 to 86 in ten days. In the subsequent crash it fell from 86 to 26. By mid 1932 it was trading at $2/share.

In the present stock market run-up, few stocks have captured speculator fancy more than Apple (AAPL). Its 20+ fold increase in share price finds AAPL flirting with a $1 trillion market cap.

Could AAPL be the present day analog to RCA? Impossible? Am sure that same word was uttered by Radio bulls when the tremors began.

no positions

Distinction Without Difference

"Nice thing about you, Joe, is that you can sound like a liberal, but at heart you're an American."--T.T. Claypoole (The Best Man)

Pundits are promoting next week's election as the most important midterm ever. We've heard this before, of course. And there is some merit to the notion that, as stakes escalate ever higher in winner-take-all democratic votes, every election becomes more important than those before.

 Yet despite the campaign ads claiming the superiority of one political policy over another, Ron Paul reminds us just how close the two warring factions are.

Republicans are the party of WAR...But so are the Democrats.

Democrats are the party of WELFARE...But so are the Republicans.

Democrats are BIG SPENDING SOCIALISTS...But so are the Republicans.

Government Power vs. Individual Liberty

That's the game.

The rest is theatre. pic.twitter.com/mD7QO1Mjgq

— Ron Paul (@RonPaul) October 24, 2018

When it comes to destruction of liberty, the policies of both sides condone it.

Distinction between these parties amounts to little real difference.

Nation by Consent

Oh Rio, Rio
Hear them shout across the land
From mountains in the north
Down to the Rio Grande
--Duran Duran

Excerpted from this larger essay, Murray Rothbard considers the birthright citizenship problem as construed from the Fourteenth Amendment. The most visible problem is this: birthright citizenship, which, when automatically confers citizenship to every baby born in the US, invites 'welfare immigration' by expectant parents. Those babies-turned-citizens (and their parents) become entitled to permanent welfare payments and free health care. As such, birthright citizenship forcibly transfers resources from incumbent citizens to the incoming group.

Plainly, a policy of birthright citizenship is likely to erode the wealth as well as the common culture of the incumbents.

The less visible problem is that birthright citizenship increases the coercive power of the nation-state and decreases the voluntary union of a nation by consent. In a nation by consent, national boundaries are drawn by those who freely agree to become part of a particular nation--and by those in the extant nation who agree to take on newcomers. People are also free to leave that nation and change affiliations (i.e., secede) if they so choose.

The implication of a nation by consent is that immigrants would have to be invited. Only then could newcomers enter and be permitted to rent or purchase property. A nation by consent would therefore be as 'closed' as the current inhabitants desire.

Clearly, Rothbard concludes in the larger essay, the 'open borders' regime that exists de facto in the US "really amounts to a compulsory opening by the central state, the state in charge of all streets and public land areas, and does not genuinely reflect the wishes of the proprietors."

A nation by consent requires complete privatization of land so that true 'border control' can be established. Moreover, voting rights would not be automatically conferred to new entrants. In a nation where property is completely privatized--meaning that government could no longer confiscate it by order of democratic majority--voting becomes less important.

Instead, the scope of private contract and of voluntary consent is enhanced as the repressive state is dissolved into a harmonious and increasingly prosperous social order.

Fed's Frankenstein

"Look, it's moving! It's alive! It's alive!"
--Henry Frankenstein (Frankenstein)

WSJ article reports price increases in many sectors. Higher prices are evident both upstream and downstream in supply chains.

The accuracy of price indexes as currently measured is certainly debatable. But it is difficult to debate the general trend.

For reasons largely incomprehensible to the rational mind, the Fed has been hard at work trying to 'manufacture' inflation. The question is whether the central bank can control what it is creating.

Is the Fed creating its own Frankenstein?